Capturing acute toxicity data during lung radiotherapy by using a patient-reported assessment tool.

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Radiotherapy
• Patient-Reported Outcomes

Background:

• Assessing symptoms in lung radiotherapy patients is challenging.
• Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) can enhance toxicity assessment.
• The Thoracic Symptom Self-Assessment Tool (TSSAT) was developed for this purpose.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility and utility of the TSSAT for collecting acute toxicity data in lung radiotherapy patients.
• To compare patient-reported toxicity with clinician assessments.

Main Methods:

• The TSSAT, based on CTCAE v3.0, was administered weekly to lung radiotherapy patients.
• Patient-reported TSSAT scores were compared with clinician-reported toxicity.
• Agreement was measured using descriptive statistics and weighted kappa values.

Main Results:

• 49% of patients completed the TSSAT; participation varied by treatment intent (radical vs. palliative).
• Patient data completion (72%) and clinician documentation (67%) were comparable.
• Fair to moderate agreement was found between patient and clinician reports, with most discrepancies within one grade.

Conclusions:

• The TSSAT is feasible and accepted by patients receiving radical dose lung radiotherapy.
• Patient-reported symptom severity differed from clinician assessments for subjective and observable symptoms.
• PROs like TSSAT show promise for improving acute symptom management in lung cancer patients undergoing RT.